Finally Home
by Evenstar Phoenix
Summary: Everything changes in a single moment.


Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran high host club.

**Finally Home**

"_What's with these, anyway? These old fashioned glasses?"_

"_Well… These were my grandfather's. I lost my contact lenses on the morning of the admissions ceremony…"_

_-Chapter 1, Ouran High Host Club_

XXXX

They are nouveau riche but her mother is high reaching and she is a dutiful daughter so she goes to the piano lessons. And the dance lessons and the etiquette training and she endures the grating niceties of high society. Her mother's dearest hope is finding an alliance for her daughter with a family of notable name. Her father had long since passed, but he had left a tidy sum of money, a large mansion, and the majority of stock of his company to his wife. The mansion was large, cold, and oddly stifling so she spent as little time there as possible.

She is grateful for the ability to pursue her studies to the fullest extent possible. Ouran, noted for its stringent admissions requirements based on lineage first and wealth as a close second, had one of the most competitive academic programs in Japan. Nevertheless, she was in class 2-B by grace of her academic standing alone. Because of her rather common lineage, not even her status as valedictorian could win her a spot in the A class. Privately, she felt that this was no matter to her. The law programs of every major university, though continued to award many spots based on nepotism, still gave many more spots based on merit. She was confident she would earn her law degree based on merit alone. However, her place in class B was a sore point for her mother who hoped to change their social standing by finding a match for her daughter, as bright and attractive as she was.

She has many opinions which she keeps to herself. She certainly never believed in prince charming, but she grudgingly admits to herself that it would have been nice to indulge in the possibility. She was well adept at putting on a show for the rest of the world when occasion called for it, but she had promised herself long ago ever lie to herself.

It is difficult to decide which is more stifling, the high lace collar of the dress or the frivolous banter of her peers. She glanced once again at the clock on the wall. Just fifteen more minutes and she could leave the guests of the cocktail party with their refined manners and upturned noses.

She first sees him on a Tuesday through the tinted windows of her limousine as she passed by the market. He had an androgynous physic that she could not help but gaze at. His facial features almost made him look like a girl. He stood outside under the flimsy plywood covering of a kiosk selling fresh fruit. Tomorrow she would ride her bicycle to and from the library.

XXXX

"How much for a bag?" she asks holding half dozen apples in one hand. She smiled at him with sparkling eyes.

"F-five hundred," stuttered the blushing man whose eyes were fixed on her left shoulder.

She came back the next day for oranges. The next day for grapes. The next for pears. The young man would still stutter, but her eyes would always sparkle and she would be back the next day.

Slowly but surely the blushing young man opened up to her. He would talk about his jobs, the bars, and his friends. She would talk about Ouran, her love of theater, and her future dreams. As days passed he spoke more exuberantly. He took her to the park and showed her how to ice skate. She took him to the library and showed him what she loved about law. Though his manners became more increasingly flamboyant as days passed, his heart was tender and his motives pure.

On the surface it seemed as though they had little in common. Her father used to be a business man, his a factory worker. She held the highest academic standing in her class, he dropped out of high school the year before. Her goal was to become a successful lawyer, he kept a string of part time jobs and was barely scraping by.

Yet he was the source of the now constant sparkle in her eye. With him, she was nothing but herself.

XXXX

More than half a year passes and her mother knows something has changed. Her daughter is happier but the older woman is still uneasy. No suitable match for her daughter had been found yet.

Another year passes and her daughter would graduate that week. The older woman passes the market one day. She narrows her eyes at what she sees on the other side of the limousine's tinted windows.

The skies are dark and dismal. A storm was brewing. She confronts her daughter in their sitting room after the graduation ceremony. Their words escalate. Soon both women are screaming at each other and crying.

"This is hardly a suitable match! What were you thinking!" shrieked the older woman.

"Why does any of that matter, he makes me happy!" the young girl shouted back.

"That boy is not for you. You will go to the omiai I have set up for you next…"

"I love him. There is no one else for me."

"You will not continue to see that boy as long as you live under this roof," was all her mother said in return. After a moment in which neither woman spoke, the younger walked to the hallway with her back turned.

"Than I'll go."

She took only a few clothes, her admissions letter from Todai, her father's precious diary and horn-rimmed glasses, and she left her home for good. She had hardly taken two steps out the door when she felt the first drops of water hit her head. She clasped the collar of her flimsy rain coat around her neck and did not look back.

She began running. Sheets of rain fell from the sky, but nothing would stop her from reaching him.

He opened the door bewildered to see her there soaking wet and sobbing. He held out his arms to her and she dropped her duffle bag and embraced him. He led her to his threadbare couch and she told him everything. He held her close and he let her cry for as long as she needed to. She savored the warmth of his arms as he pulled her closer and kissed her forehead.

She was finally home.

XXXX

AN:

Omiai arraigned meeting for a prospective marriage

I might make this a two shot with the next chapter from Ryoji's point of view. Maybe I'll fill in the gaps where I just skipped over that year and a half. I'm not sure where my fascination with Kotoko x Ryoji comes from. I guess I just can't imagine that man getting together with that woman without there having been some sort of drama :p I was also hoping to provide some sort of round-about explanation as to the origin to those glasses from chapter one. Haruhi's grandfather is her only other family member that is mentioned in the series (I think). I had always wondered why Haruhi decided to go to Ouran, when I'm sure there are other schools in Japan with just as good academic programs that do not care about lineage. I figure that if Kotoko went to Ouran, it would have given Haruhi that extra motivation : ) I'm probably just thinking too much.


End file.
